Button-sewing machine.



W A. SMITH. BUTTON SEWING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29. 1.916.

Patented Dec. 31,1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

W. A-. SMITH.

BUTTON SEWING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29. we.

1,289,291., Patented Dec. 31,1918.

?SHEETSSHEET 2. 7 Jews.

45 view on line 2-2, Fig. 1; .and Fig. 3 is a WILLARD SMITH, OF MELRoSE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR, BY M SNE ASSIGN- MENTS, To UNITED SHoE MACHINERY CORPORATIO OF PA ERsoN, NEW JERSEY,

A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

BUTTON-SEWING MACHINE.

' Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec, 31, 1918 Original application filed June 1, 1915, Serial No. 31,459. Divided and-this application filed March 29, 1916. Serial No..87,475.

To all whom z'tmay concern: v

Be it known that I, WILLARD A. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Melrose, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts-have invented certain new and useful Improve merits-in Button-Sewing Machines; and I do The invention relates to work feeding mechanism for Sewing machines, and more such machines.

particularly to mechanism which is well adapted for machines for sewing on buttons,-

although not confined in its application to The object of the invention isto provide novel and improved Work feeding mechanism which is uniform and reliable in its action, and which may be readily and con veniently adjusted to vary the length of feed or spacing between the successive stitch forming cycles of the machine; It is a further object to provide means by which the of the invention.

The presen't'application is a division of application Serial No. 31,459, filed June 1,

.1915, for improvement in button sewing machine.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation showlng so much of a machine for sewing on buttons as is necessary to illustrate a preferred form of the present invention applied thereto; F1g. 2 1S a sectional detail View of a part of themechanism.

In the drawings the invention is shown as embodied in a machine in which the buttons are attachedv by passing a primary loop of thread through the work and through the button eye, then passing a secondary loop through the work outside the button eye and through the primary loop, then passing the secondary loop over the button, and finally tightening the knot thus formed.- In this machine the work is clamped, during the operation of the button attaching mecha nism, between the under face of a fixed throat plate 2 and the upper face of a vertically reciprocating presserfoot 4, the

throat plate and presser foot being slotted in the line of feed in the usual manner. The presser foot is formed on the upper end of a vertically movable slide 6 which is forced in a direction to clamp the work by a spring 8, and which is withdrawn between successive button attachin operations by a cam 10 secured to the cam shaft 12 and engaging a roll 14 on the slide. The lower end of the slide6 is connected by a chain 16 with a treadle by which the presser foot may be withdrawn to enable the work to be inserted or removed. I

The button attaching mechanism comprises .a vertically reciprocating eye-pointed needle 18 which cooperates with other devices (not' shown) in attaching a button to the work during each cycle of the machine. The needle is secured in a needle bar 20 mounted to reciprocate in guides formed on a carrier 22 which is rocked to vary the path of the needle in carrying the primary and Secondary button attaching loops through the material. The needle bar is reciprocated through a link 24 connecting the bar to an arm 26 which is secured to a rock shaft 28 operated by a cam'on the cam shaft. The thread is controlled during the sewing by a reciprocatory takeup 30, an auxiliary spring takeup 32, and athread clamp 34,

the constructlon and mode of operation of which is not material to the present invention.

The means for feeding the Work between successive button securing operations to properly space the buttons comprises a feed point 36 which is given a 4-motion movework the required distance. The feed point is secured in the upperend of a feed point slide 38 mounted to reciprocate vertically in an oscillating feed arm 40. The feed arm is pivotally mounted at its lower end upon the rock shaft 42, and is connected by a link 44 to an actuating lever 46.. One end of the link is pivoted to the feed arm, and the other end is pivoted to a block 48 mounted to'slide in a curved guide 50 formed in one arm of the actuating lever. The curvature of the guide is such that the feed point will be returned to the same initial position whatever the adjustment of the block. 48, but will be advanced during its feeding stroke varying distances depending upon the adjustment of the block in the guide. The means for adjusting the block in the guide to vary the spacing of the buttons'comprises a lever 52 pivotedat 54 to a fixed part of the machine frame, and having one end connected by a link 56 to the link 44. The other end of the adjusting lever 52 is provided with a gear segment 58 engaged by a pinion 60 secured to a short shaft 62. The

shaft 62. is provided on its outer end with an operating head 64 which is within con venient reach of the o erator. and may be turned to adjust the spacing of the buttons. The movement of the adjusting head in either direction is limited by a stop pin 66'.

which projects into-a slot 68 formed in a flange on the head. The shaft is frictionally held in adjusted position by a split sleeve 70,the frictional engagement of which with the shaft may be regulated by an adjusting screw 72. The flange of the operating head may be provided with ascale to indicate the adjustment for various classes of work. The actuating lever 46 is reciprocated by a cam on the cam shaft.

The means for raising and lowering the feed point slide to engage the feed point with and disengage it from the work comprises .a lever 74 carrying a roll engaging a cam 76 on the end of the cam shaft 12, and having its free end connected by a link 7 8 with the lower end of the feed point slide. A spring 80 is connected to the feed point slide, and tends to retract the slide and hold the roll on the lever 74 in engagement with the cam 76. The link 7 8 is so'arranged with rela-' tion to the pivotalaxis of the feed arm, and its length is so proportioned with relation to the distance between this axis and the I feed point, that thefeed point is caused to travel in agsubstantially horizontal line during its feeding stroke, and is thus maintained in effective engagement with thework. The feed adjusting shaft '62 may b mounted in the machine frame if found desirable. In doing certain classes of work,

however, it is desirable that the operator not only be able to readily adjust the feed mechmeager anism in accordance with the desired spacing of the buttons, but also to modify this spacing at will during the operation of the machine. .To enable this to be done, the shaft 62 in the construction shown is mounted in the end of a lever 82 pivoted on the stud 54, which also forms the pivotal support for the adjusting lever 52. The other end of the lever 82 is pivotally connected to the upper end of a rod 84 mounted to slide vertically in a bearing in the machine frame, and held by a spring.86 in engagement with one end of a lever 88, which is pivoted at 90 to the base on which the machine casing is pivoted. The other end of the lever 88 is connected by a link 92 with an, arm 94 projecting from a rock shaft 96. The lower vided with a collar 98 adapted to engage the under side of the arm. The rock shaft 96 is held in normal position against a stop 100 by acomparatively heavy spring 102. The rock shaft also carries a depending arm, to which a knee plate 104 is adjustably secured. With the parts in normal position the spacing of the buttons will be that cor-- responding with the setting of the .adjusting shaft 62. The operator may, however, at any time during the feeding of the work, or at any other period in, the operation of the machine, increase-the feeding action of the feed'point by pressing on the knee plate 104, and thus through connections described depress the shaft 62 and thus increase the feeding stroke of the feed point. The connections between the knee plate and support for the shaft 62 above described also enable themachine casing to be swung up about its pivotal connections with the base, without requiring any manipulations of the connections. The connections when the machine frame is swung down into its normal position on the base.

While it is preferred to employ the specific construction and arrangement of parts shown and described, it will be understood that this construction and arrangement is not essential to the broader features of the invention, and may be varied andmodified as found desirable or best suited tothe construction and arrangement of thea such parts of the machine in which any of features are to be embodied.

Having explained the nature and object of the invention, and specifically described one form of machine in which it may be embodied, what is claimed, is:

1. A'button sewing machine, having, in

combination, an oscillating feed arm, a feed point slide mounted on the arm, a cam for advancing and retracting the slide, a lever engaging'the cam, and a link connecting the lever to the slide so arranged with relation to the axis of the feed arm that the feed point travels in a substantially horizontal line during the feeding stroke of the arm.

2. A button sewing machine, having, in combination, an oscillating feed arm, an actuating lever having a curved guide, a link having one end connected with the feed arm and the other connected to a slide in the guide, an adjusting lever connected by a link with the slide, and means for adjusting the lever to vary the feed.

3. A button sewing machine, having, in combination, an oscillating feed arm, a feed point slide mounted in the arm, a link connected with the slide and so arranged with relation to the axis of the feed arm that the point travels in a substantially horizontal line during the feeding stroke of the arm, and mechanism for raising and lowering the link to engage the feed point with and disengage it from the work.

4. A button sewing machine, having, in combination, an oscillating feed arm, an actuating lever having a curved guide, a link having one end connected with the feed arm and the other connected with a slide in the guide, and an adjusting device mounted on a fixed support and connected to adjust the slide to vary the feed.

5. A button sewing machine, having, in combination, an oscillating feed arm, an actuating lever having a curved guide, a link having one end connected with the feed arm and the other connected with a slide in the guide, a lever mounted on a. fixed axis and connected to move the slide in the guide, a gear segment on the lever, and a manually operated shaft having a pinion engaging the segment.

6. A button sewing machine, having, in

combination, button attaching mechanism, an oscillating feed arm carrying work engaging means for feeding the work to space the buttons, mechanism for actuating the feed arm, a device set by the operator for adjusting the actuating mechanism to determine the feed, and mechanism for moving such device at the will of the operator to vary the feed for which the device is set during the running of the machine.

7. A button sewing machine, having, in combination, button attaching mechanism, mechanism for feeding the work between successive operations of the button attaching mechanism to space the buttons, means set by the operator to determine the spacing of the buttons, and means for varying the spacing of successive-buttons at the will of the operator during the running of the machine.

8. A button sewing machine, having, in combination, button attaching mechanism. an oscillating feed arm carrying work engaging means for feeding the work to space the buttons, an actuating lever, a link connecting the arm and lever, a device set by the operator and connected with the link to determine the normal spacing of the buttons. a support for said device, and means for moving the support from its normal position during the running of the machine to vary at will the spacing of the buttons.

9. A button sewing machine, having, in combination, button attaching mechanism, mechanism for feeding the work between successive operations of the button attaching mechanism to space the buttons, means for adjusting the feeding mechanism to determine the normal spacing of the buttons, and means for rendering the spacing of Successive buttons abnormal at the will of the operator during the running of the macl1ine.'

10. A button sewing machine, having. in-

combination, button attaching mechanism. mechanism for feeding the work between successive operations of the button attaching mechanism to space the buttons, a device adjustable by the operator to determine the normal spacing of the buttons, and means under the control of the operator for varying such spacing during the running of the machine without changing the adjustment of said device.

WILLARD A. SMITH. 

